Silly Love Songs
Love is a Many Spendored Thing.
Or so I have heard. I used to think that song said that love was a many splendid thing, which never made sense to me until my Uncle Casey corrected me. Now it makes sense, but I am not sure I believe it.
So much has been said about love. For Pat Benatar, Love is Battlefield. To the Bee Gees, Love is higher than a mountain and thicker than water. All the Beatles needed was love, so they said. Elvis couldn’t help falling in love. According to “A Little Night Music”, love is disgusting and insane. Eliza Hamilton was Helpless because of love. Tevye and Golde aren’t sure if they are in love after 25 years of marriage. Curley and Laurey might never get their love going in Oklahoma! if they don’t stop being concerned that People Will Say We’re In Love. Eponine’s love is unrequited in Les Miserables and she is On Her Own. Tony dies for love in West Side Story.
Love is hard work.
For example. I am a cat person. Always have been, always will be. Why then, do I own a dog? Because I love my husband, and I love my son, and they wanted a dog. A good friend of mine called this a labor of love for me, and she is so very right. Jack is a good boy, though. You know. For a dog.
Love sacrifices. Love puts in the effort. Love returns texts and emails and phone calls. Love takes time and energy and exhausts you. Love keeps you up at night sitting and worrying about a sick child, a lost friend, a hurting sibling, an aging parent. Love cleans garages and rakes leaves and reads a book no matter how tired you are. Love cooks extra meals when you are going through a hard time. Love opens your home and your heart. Love heals, or provides what heals you, like music, laughter, conversation, silence, hugs. Love holds a small child even when their tummy is upset. Sometimes, love cooks and cleans and scrubs, and sometimes it sits quietly beside you.
It is hard work. Is it worth it? Is it full of magnificence and marvels? It is different for everyone, and where you have been and what you have been through colors your experience with love. But I don’t think it is so much about luck as it is the effort you put into it. Personally, I don’t really believe in fairy tales.
And yet….
“Ten Minutes Ago,” from Cinderella, sings “I have found him…I may never come down to Earth again.” I hear it, and my heart leaps, and my stomach flutters and…
Well. Perhaps Love is a Many Splendored Thing after all. Sometimes.
Peace and Love,
Kat